Saturday, August 12, 2017

The rupture between President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell originated where so many of the president’s dramas do: with something he saw on TV.

Trump watched clips of McConnell criticizing him on the news and wasn’t happy. In a terse but loud conversation Wednesday, the president made clear he wasn’t to blame for the Obamacare failure and was displeased with the criticism he’s gotten for it. McConnell didn’t give any ground, said people briefed on the phone call, and there are no immediate plans to speak again.

By Thursday afternoon, after several angry tweets, Trump left open the possibility of asking McConnell to resign, saying his opinion would hinge on the majority leader’s ability to get a laundry list of things done — Obamacare repeal, tax cuts, infrastructure. “I’m very disappointed in Mitch,” Trump told reporters. “If he gets these bills passed, I’ll be very happy with him and I’ll be the first to admit it.”

The phone call, first reported by The New York Times, and comments at Bedminster mirror what Trump has said in private, according to four White House officials and Trump friends: that he is preparing to distance himself from Republicans in Congress if they aren’t successful in passing legislation and that he will not take the blame for them if they can’t.

Increasingly, these people say, the president is prepared to cast himself as an outsider — and Congress as an “insider” Washington institution. He has reminded advisers his poll numbers are higher than Congress' and that he ran against Washington — and wants bills to sign — and will blast his own party if he doesn’t get them.

Trump believes that his supporters will largely blame Congress instead of him, two people who have spoken to him said.

That's all he cares about. But it's worked out for him so far hasn't it?

Read the rest of the article if you have time. Trump's relationship with congress is becoming openly dictatorial. If he manages to provoke a war .... well.